Palestinians deny Arafat heart attack

Yasser Arafat's advisers yesterday denied a report that he had suffered a mild heart attack, but said the 74-year-old Palestinian leader is suffering from a stomach flu and remains weak.

In brief appearances this week, the Palestinian President looked drawn and pale and his lower lip trembled considerably. He spoke with great effort and with prompting from his chief adviser, Nabil Abu Rdeneh. At times, he appeared in a daze, staring straight ahead.

The British newspaper The Guardian yesterday quoted Arafat aides as saying he had a "slight heart attack" last week, but that the incident was kept secret for fear of creating panic.

On September 29 Mr Arafat's doctor, Ashraf al-Kurdi, rushed from Jordan to Mr Arafat's compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Mr Arafat had been unable to keep down his food for three days, and Palestinian sources said he feared he had been poisoned.

Dr Kurdi, accompanied by a neurologist, an internist and a heart specialist, said after examining him that Mr Arafat was in relatively good health.

However, Mr Arafat has not improved since that visit, his aides said on condition of anonymity. He continues to pick at his food and requires a lot of rest.

Mr Arafat has been confined for nearly two years to his Ramallah compound by Israeli sieges and threats that he will not be allowed to return if he leaves.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jonathan Peled, said yesterday that Israel "probably would" permit Mr Arafat to leave the compound if he needs to be treated at a hospital.

In response to twin suicide bombings last month, Israel threatened to "remove" Mr Arafat as an obstacle to peace, but did not say whether it intended to expel or kill him, and when it would take action.

Mr Arafat was on hand on Tuesday for the swearing-in of an emergency government led by the new Prime Minister, Ahmed Qurie. But the new administration is already beset by power struggles over crucial issues such as control of the Palestinian security forces.

Mr Qurie proposed a ceasefire to Israel in an interview published by the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv yesterday, but the Israeli Labour Minister, Zevulun Orlev, immediately rejected his offer.